Neuropathy

“A therapy with such promise is low-level laser therapy (LLLT). Researchers have shown that low-level laser therapy promotes: central and peripheral neuron repair; suppression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2); enhancement of peripheral endogenous opioids; upregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF); angiogenesis; collagen synthesis and decorin expression during tendon and ligament repair; reduction in fibrosis, suppression of conduction along unmyelinated C fibers; and inhibition of histamine release.”

Low-level laser therapy is an emerging technology to help treat and control pain in the lower extremities. Researchers have shown that low-level laser irradiation can do the following:

• • • Increased healing of the nerve and tissue
    • Improve microvascular
    • Reverse Oxidative injury
    • Reverse mitochondrial dysfunction so the cell can fix itself
    • Have a positive response on cell membranes, mitochondria and damaged neurologic structures
    • Analgesic (pain reducing)
    • Anti-inflammatory
    • Biostimulatory effects
    • Allows increases in oxygenation and nutritional supply to tissues
    • Increased Healing

Increasing microcirculation induces an essential function in the tissue repair process and in pain control. This process allows increases in oxygenation and nutritional supply to tissues. This process allows for the expulsion of metabolic byproducts, which may contribute to pain.

A Closer Look At The Mechanism Of Action Of Low-Level Laser Therapy

Waiting six to eight weeks after treatment may be preferable as the effects of the laser may not be immediate. It is our belief that waiting several weeks after the final laser application would allow the acute effects of the laser to transpire and promote an observable improvement in epidermal nerve fiber density.

Low-level laser therapy is a non-invasive, low-risk treatment that we have shown to be effective in increasing the density of small fiber nerves in the epidermis in some patients.

Conclusions:

• • • • Significant reduction in Pain
      • Found to be effective.. with peripheral neuropathy

Laser therapy resulted in improved neuropathy outcomes in diabetic patients who received it relative to the group that received sham therapy, evaluating before and after LASER assessments.

Conclusion: Patients with long-term peripheral nerve injury… can progressively improve nerve function, which leads to significant functional recovery.

The study findings indicate that LLLT could be an effective therapeutic modality in the treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy in that it is able to modify pain, foot skin microcirculation and some electrophysiological parameters of peripheral nerve function.

“It could be concluded that LLLT LASER is more safe and effective than gabapentin in the management of neuropathy…”

Patients receiving LLLT had a 26.4% decrease of pain level through four weeks of treatment. Many authors had reported significant pain reduction with LLLT in acute and chronic painful conditions.
increased ATP production by the mitochondria, and increased cellular oxygen consumption, increased serotonin and endorphins, anti-inflammatory effects and improved blood circulation in some cases. There is also in vivo and in vitro studies evidence that 830 nm laser inhibits Aδ and C nerve fibre transmission, given the etiology for the pain of diabetic neuropathy through abnormal activation of damaged nerve fibres, regenerating small-diameter nociceptive fibres may be involved. The perception of this pain is dependent on neurotransmission in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Laser treatment would block the abnormal activity in the affected peripheral nerve or block neuro-transmission in the somatotopically related dorsal horn through application of laser on the corresponding segment of the spine (lumbosacral application). In addition transcutaneous or direct stimulation of sensory peripheral nerves (foot plantar surface application) is believed to produce analgesia through both of these mechanisms.

Conclusion: The study findings indicate that LLLT could be an effective therapeutic modality in the treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy in that it is able to modify pain, foot skin microcirculation and some electrophysiological parameters of peripheral nerve function.

LASER Therapy decreases inflammation, promotes fibroblast proliferation in experimental and clinical models. Experimentally, the histological and morphometric studies showed increasing nerve fiber density and increasing number of blood vessels on LASERed nerves.

“While placebo-treated ulcers worsened during the initial 30 days, group two ulcers healed rapidly; achieving 56% more granulation and 79.2% faster healing by day 30, and maintaining similarly higher rates of granulation and healing over the “placebo” group all through. By day 90, 58.3% of group two ulcers had healed fully and 75% had achieved 90-100% healing.

Conclusion: Combined 660 and 890 nm light promotes rapid granulation and healing of diabetic ulcers that failed to respond to other forms of treatment.

Conclusion:

This experiment affirms the beneficial effect of LLLT on nerve regeneration, since LASERS produced a significant amount of structural and cellular change. The results of the present study suggest that laser therapy may be a viable approach for nerve regeneration, which may be of clinical relevance in scheduled surgery or microsurgery.

Conclusions: According to our results, LED significantly improves healing of chronic diabetic wounds.

There are evidences that laser therapy may stimulate nerve regeneration and this hypothesis was tested in rats. Nerve fiber density increased for the irradiated nerves and decreased for the control nerves.

Effect of Low Level Laser Therapy on Chronic Compression of the Dorsal Root Ganglion. “Our data indicate that Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) significantly decreased the tolerable sensitivity to pain and heat stimuli in the Chronic Compressed Dorsal Nerve Root (CCD) groups.” The conclusion was that LLLT was able to enhance neural regeneration in rats following CCD and improve rat ambulatory behavior.. suppression of the inflammatory response and induction of neuronal repair genes. These results suggest potential clinical applications for LLLT in the treatment of compression-induced neuronal disorders.

Results: The Laser Group presented a significant increase of the tissue repair index when compared with the Control Group, with a significant statistical difference

There is actually a lot of research on this, going clear back to the 1960s. Here is a very recent study that shows the benefits of laser on these types of wounds.

Laser increases the most powerful antioxidant in the human body, glutathione, which also works as a vasodilator, Vasodilation means the blood flow improves in order to carry oxygen, growth factor, and other essential tools to keep your nerves healthy.

• • Stimulates neurogenesis (new nerves to form)
  • Protects against cell death
  • Protects the viability of cell culture after oxidative stress, as indicated by mitochondria membrane potentials
  • Stimulates neurite outgrowth mediated by nerve growth factor
  • Positive implications for axonal protection
  • Protects neuronal cells against cyanide. In animal models of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), NIR (810nm) appears to be an effective treatment and improves neurogenesis and synaptogenesis, via increase of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF 18,20,80–82). In addition, NIR improves memory performance in middle-aged mice